Interviews Matthew Davis Ugandan novelist and short-story writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s first novel, Kintu, won the Kwani Manuscript Project in 2013 and was longlisted for the Etisalat Prize in 2014. She was awarded the 2014 Commonwealth Short-Story Prize for her story Lets Tell This Story Properly, published by Granta, and the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction 2018 to support her writing. Her first full story collection, Manchester Happened, was published by Oneworld in May 2019. Retitled Let’s Tell This Story Properly, the collection was published in the US in July 2019. She lives in Manchester with her husband and son and lectures in creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. While Makumbi was a fellow at the Alan Cheuse International Writers Center at George Mason University this past spring, she talked with Matthew Davis, the center’s founding director. Here they discuss how westerners and Africans read African literature differently, writing for Ugandans, and how eighteen years in England has changed her. Matthew Davis: Jennifer, welcome. I want to start by discussing your novel, Kintu, which is in many ways a modern classic of world literature. It begins in 1750, when Kintu Kidda sets out for the capital to pledge allegiance to the new leader of the Buganda kingdom. The novel follows the descendants of Kintu as they struggle with a curse he unleashed as he made his way to the capital in the... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2019-08-06 13:42:31 UTC ]
The summer before my freshman year, a kind family friend gave me a crash course in cultural awakening. She loaded me up with Fuentes, Martí, and Cortázar—all names tethered to any Latin American literature syllabus worth its salt. But it was the works of Gabriel García Márquez that stood out to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-20 08:48:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this
HQ has scooped a short story collection including eight "lost" stories by acclaimed Harlem Renaissance author Zora Neale Hurston. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-13 13:50:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this
After years as an Amazon affiliate, the African American Literature Book Club, an online portal dedicated to black books, literacy and a wide variety of book-related services, is severing most of its commercial ties to the online retailer. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-09-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Contemporary Short Stories from MyanmarIn 2017 the British Council produced an anthology of short stories from Myanmar. In 2012 the British Council sought to take advantage of new freedoms in literature and travel through a programme of workshops. The aim of the five-year literature... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-09-10 08:55:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories edited by Jhumpa Lahiri, is available now. * What was the genesis of this anthology? Three years ago, I began teaching creative writing at Princeton. I had just returned from Italy, where I had lived in Rome with my family for three years. During that... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-10 08:46:32 UTC ]
More news stories like this
There is much to be said of importance for literary culture in general and black American literature in particular when we reflect on the life of the late novelist Paule Marshall. I will discuss all this, but I’d like to begin with an anecdote about my only encounter with this grand lady. On... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-09-05 08:47:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this
These are some of the best creepy short stories that I've assigned (or WOULD assign) to keep my students intrigued (and terrified). Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-08-14 10:34:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Keep the technology-inspired horror and thrill going with six short stories for fans of BLACK MIRROR--just don't read them on your ereader! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-08-08 10:35:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In her creative and critical work, Toni Morrison sought to remap the contours of American literature and culture. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2019-08-07 06:00:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Picador has bagged a satirical short story collection and novel from US writer Mary South. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-07 00:40:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this
French publisher Editions de Fallois has announced that it will publish a collection of novellas and short stories by Marcel Proust, who you might remember from his very long, seven-volume À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time). Smithsonian.com reports: Agence... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-06 19:34:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Toni Morrison, giant of American literature and the first black woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, has passed away. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-08-06 14:08:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Interviews Matthew Davis Ugandan novelist and short-story writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s first novel, Kintu, won the Kwani Manuscript Project in 2013 and was longlisted for the Etisalat Prize in 2014. She was awarded the 2014 Commonwealth... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-08-06 13:42:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this
All photos courtesy of Hannah Colen. Held in Washington D.C., the Second-Annual Asian American Literature Festival took place this year at multiple locations including the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Freer|Sackler Galleries, and kicked off at Franklin Park down the street from the Eaton... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-05 16:16:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Featuring a foreword by Roxane Gay, the comic anthology is a powerful and instructive collection of short stories by 60 female artists. The post Panel Mania: ‘Drawing Power: Women’s Stories of Sexual Violence, Harassment, and Survival’ appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2019-08-02 10:00:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Long before funny cat content flooded every single corner of the internet, John Steinbeck, legendary dog person, was writing it for Le Figaro, proving once again that France gets all the good stuff before we do. Steinbeck wrote “The Amiable Fleas,” or “Les puces sympathiques,” in 1954 for Le... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-31 15:44:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The best Christmas stories This is a somewhat unseasonal post for us, appearing in July as it is. But we’ve recently turned our thoughts towards Christmas literature for a whole host of reasons, so thought we’d offer ten of the greatest short stories about Christmas. These are stories set around […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2019-07-27 14:00:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Peg Alford Pursell’s second book, A Girl Goes Into the Forest, contains a collection of 67 short stories exploring moments in the lives of women. Pursell’s first book, Show Her a Flower, a Bird, a Shadow, was recognized as a 2017 Indies finalist and a finalist and honorable mention in fiction... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-07-25 11:00:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A new collection of Bette Howland's short stories restores a powerful voice to the canon. The post Their Daughters Were Having Cats Instead of Children appeared first on Guernica. Continue reading at Guernica
[ Guernica | 2019-07-22 11:00:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this
TRANSLATED BY KEN LIU, Broken Stars is a welcome second collection of 16 Chinese speculative fiction short stories and three short essays recounting the genre’s recent cultural and academic prominence. The volume gives voice to an eclectic group, serving as a who’s who of SF authors, critics,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-07-20 19:00:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this